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Exploring everything that is craft beer in Tennessee.Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:38:11 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4https://tncraftbeermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/favicon-hop-2.pngTennessee Craft Beer Magazinehttps://tncraftbeermag.com
3232118606149​Cigar City Brewing Company Introduces Southern California Distributionhttps://tncraftbeermag.com/cigar-city-expands-to-southern-california/
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:38:11 +0000http://tncraftbeermag.com/?p=2731
Continuing the growth in production and distribution of its world-class beers, Cigar City Brewing is pleased to announce the addition of the Southern California market to its distribution footprint.

Stone Distributing has signed on as Cigar City Brewing’s wholesale partner in the Southern California market and will help introduce SoCal to CCB’s dynamic line-up of ales and lagers, including Jai Alai IPA. Kegs and twelve-ounce cans of Jai Alai IPA, Maduro Brown Ale, Florida Cracker Belgian-style White Ale and their newest year-round offering Guayabera Citra Pale Ale will be available from San Diego to Santa Barbara beginning in late February.

Looking to build on the strong relationship between Stone Distributing and their CANarchy portfolio-mates Oskar Blues Brewery, Cigar City Brewing enters the California market poised for strong and sustained growth following their launch. One of the fastest growing brands in the country, CCB boasts the best-selling craft six-pack can through national IRI reporting in Jai Alai IPA with other year-round and seasonal offerings complementing National and international awards and accolades have garnered attention for the brewery since their inception in 2009.

“Southern California is a mecca for craft beer and we’re excited to tell our story to the beer-loving masses in SoCal,” says CCB’s El Lector Neil Callaghan. “Stone Distributing has been a huge influence in crafting (pun intended) the beer scene in the area and we couldn’t be happier to partner with their team.”

Stone Distributing Senior Director of Sales Brian Dewey says, “We are incredibly stoked to have Cigar City join our limited portfolio of innovative brewers. They are bringing a regional portfolio that complements our partners and providing our customers something uniquely different for Southern California. It will be exciting to watch how the market responds with such a dynamic lineup of beers.”

Market launch events will be taking place throughout Southern California in late February, March and April with numerous Cigar City Brewing representatives travelling from Tampa to celebrate the arrival of its award-winning beers. These events will feature Cigar City Brewing beers and will be incredible opportunities for the area’s craft beer fans to learn about Cigar City Brewing’s history and its award winning beer from the people who know it best.

Cigar City Brewing’s beer, including award-winning Jai Alai IPA, will be available in fifteen states encompassing Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Illinois and California starting in February. Cigar City Brewing’s ales and lagers are also exported to Denmark.

Braxton Brewing Company will be celebrating their third anniversary on Saturday, March 24th with a Block Party directly in front of their taproom on 7th Street. To celebrate, the brewery is partnering with Bunbury Music Festival to host nationally touring band, Grizfolk, and release Buzz Honey Peach Kölsch in cans.

“To think that it’s already been 3 years is just fascinating. I couldn’t be more excited to share this special day with our biggest fans who have helped make this dream come to life,” said Jake Rouse, CEO and Co-Founder of Braxton Brewing Company. “Great music, great beer, great people – there’s not a better way to Lift One to Life – it’s going to be an amazing time!

Grizfolk is an alternative rock band. The group released Waking Up the Giants in 2016 and their most popular single, In My Arms (feat. Jamie N Commons), in 2017. The band has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. They have toured with Bastille, X Ambassadors, Wild Club and most recently, AJR. Now, Grizfolk is coming to Covington for Braxton Brewing Copmany’s Third Anniversary Party. They’ll take the stage for a free show at 9pm.

This passion for live music has led Braxton Brewing Company to once again be the official craft beer of Bunbury Music Festival. In 2017, the brewery’s first year as the official craft beer of the popular music festival, the company brewed a Honey Peach Kölsch aptly named Buzz. One of the brewery’s most popular special releases of 2017, Braxton Brewing Company is bringing Buzz back. The 6-packs of 12 oz. cans ($9.99+tax) will be released at noon during the company’s Third Anniversary Party.

“It’s amazing how time flies,” said Evan Rouse, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Braxton Brewing Company. “To think that three years have passed is insane. I couldn’t be more excited with the lineup we have and stay tuned for the details of Yeasterday’s Headlines Volume 3. The product will celebrate 3 years of lifting one to life, but with a bit more haze.”

Just as in year’s past, the brewing company will be releasing special new draft beers and some of their rarest releases from the year. In addition, Braxton will also be inviting friends from the industry to pour rare guest taps.

With a great lineup of live music and a great draft lineup, every great Block Party needs great food. The brewery will host food trucks throughout its event featuring Braxton inspired menu items.

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned in three years, it’s how to throw a party,” said Greg Rouse, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Braxton Brewing Company. “Our biggest and best yet, we can’t wait to host the community at our 3 Year Anniversary.”

MadTree Brewing has expanded their distribution footprint, partnering with Cherokee Distributing throughout Eastern Tennessee. Beginning February 25, Cherokee will distribute MadTree’s core lineup of beers including PsycHOPathy IPA and Lift Kölsch, along with seasonal offerings, Rounding Third red IPA and Rubus Cacao chocolate raspberry stout in cans. Draft beer will begin distribution in March 19. Launch event details the week of March 19 will be made available at http://madtreebrewing.com/etn.

“The MadTree family has a number of ties to the Knoxville and Chattanooga communities, so it’s really cool to be able to share beers in these areas,” says Co-Founder Brady Duncan. “Partnering with Cherokee was an easy decision with their focus on community support and excellent service.”

“We’re excited to help grow MadTree in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and throughout Eastern Tennessee,” says George Sampson, Cherokee Distributing’s president. “The MadTree and Cherokee partnership just made sense. We share a common vision of delivering the highest quality products and serving our customers and community with pride and excellence.”

MadTree is well-regarded for their broad portfolio of beers, strict quality standards, and support for the community. MadTree is founded and continues to grow on the notion that beer builds community and community builds beer. They believe in supporting local vendors, philanthropic endeavors, and other ways to make a meaningful impact in the communities they serve.

Half Batch Brewing, Hendersonville’s first craft brewery, has signed with distributor Best Brands Inc to make its brews available in the entire Middle and East Tennessee regions.

“We are fired up to partner with Best Brands to bring our hand-crafted beers to the Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga markets,” said owner/brewer Nate Newton. “Offering our beers in cans will open up new placement opportunities for us and make our brews more portable so our customers can take them wherever they go.”

Half Batch Brewing will begin packaging its three core beers in cans by the end of the month, and they will be available throughout its distribution area. Two Foot Cream Ale and The Fulkin Scottish Ale will be sold in six packs of 12-ounce cans, and BS IPA will be sold in four packs of 16-ounce cans.

Half Batch Brewing’s public room is open Thursday and Friday from 4:00 to 10:00, and Saturday from 2:00 to 10:00. Tours are available on Saturdays at 4:30. The brewery and public room are located at 393 East Main Street, Suite 6A, Hendersonville TN.

To say Will Goodwin and Clark Ortkiese, co-owners of Crosstown Brewing Company, are excited about the grand opening of their brewery would be a gross understatement. What started as a friendly competition brewing beers at home has blossomed into the latest and greatest addition to Crosstown Concourse. Four years in the making, their beer dreams are now a reality.

“Our families took a vacation together Labor Day weekend of 2014. That was when we really decided, as a group, to do this thing,” said Clark Ortkiese. “It feels great to get the doors open but what we’re starting to realize is that this isn’t the finish line. We still have a lot of work ahead of us.” The brewery, located in the far northwest side of the Concourse campus, is 10,000 square feet of functional, real estate that will welcome not only residents and tenants of the historic Crosstown Concourse redevelopment, it will also be a family-friendly beacon for people all over the city.

“Atmosphere is everything. Our proximity to Crosstown Concourse is amplified by the modern industrial aesthetic that we were looking for. Concourse’s focus on the arts, healthcare, and education draws a group of people who are unique and interesting. There is a passion to make a difference around here. You can feel it,” said Clark. As far as burgeoning partnerships are concerned, Crosstown brewery already has plans for several beer collaborations with French Truck and Area 51 Ice Cream. Clark and Will also hope to offer beer pairing events with Curb Market and So Nuts. The opportunities are endless.

Besides serving up beer, Crosstown Brewery also hopes to be intimately involved in improving the overall experience at Crosstown. “The fact that we’re here binds us together and brings a sense of community that is truly thrilling. I think the kinds of people you’ll meet when you come to our taproom will also set us apart,” said Clark.

For co-owners of Memphis Made Brewing Company, Andy Ashby and Drew Barton, starting small has been the key to trying new things. It’s this distinctive approach to innovating, experimenting and testing that has made them one of the most popular breweries in Memphis and the Midsouth.

From building their own canning machine to becoming the first and only brewery to become an eco-conscious, green and sustainable Project Greenfork Certified business, Memphis Made is doing it their way and in style. “In the beginning, I designed and built a canning machine,” said Drew Barton. “I wanted to test the idea first.” Easy for someone with an engineering degree to say, I suppose, but this is the ethos you will find with these guys. A try before they buy approach and a smart one at that.

If you build it, they will come.

Now with a nice response from the Memphis beer-drinking crowd under their belts, they bought a bigger machine to start canning on a larger scale and are featuring several new brews to boot. Beers like the Kickdown, a Belgium style tripel, Mr. Anderson, a barley wine style ale and Slumber Party, an imperial stout. You can also enjoy mainstay Fireside Amber in artfully designed cans as well. Speaking of their art, most graphics and cans are created by artists Weston Notestine and Adam Shellabarger.

Memphis Made first made the scene servicing bars and restaurants with their craft brews before opening their large, warehouse taproom in late 2014 in the Cooper Young Historic District – another test to try the idea of opening up a full service shop.

“In Memphis, we are the only brewery located in the middle of a neighborhood,” said Andy. “We have a European attitude about the whole thing. We also don’t stay open too late making this a perfect place for families.” Cooper Young is an artsy neighborhood filled with boutique shops, restaurants, galleries and more, and now boasts one of the largest, family-friendly breweries in the city. “We appreciate and encourage the English Pub attitude at Memphis Made. We want a place where people see our taproom as an extension of their living room,” added Drew.

Memphis Made also uses a method that allows them to be creative, nimble and change on the turn of a dime, if the occasion calls for it.

“We have a unique system where we self distribute, something a lot of breweries don’t do,” said Andy Ashby. “We brew it, package it and deliver it in our own van. From production to sales this allows us a lot of flexibility and autonomy.”

If you like live and local music, and a place that cares about its own backyard, Memphis Made hosts many live concerts throughout the year and has raised more than $100,000 for local schools and nonprofits in the area.

“We love working with local charities to help enhance their fundraising efforts – places like Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop – here in the neighborhood,” said Andy. And speaking of bikes, Memphis Made has been named the only certified bike friendly brewery in the city by the league of American Bicyclists. They will also be an Explore Bike Share location come this April and will also host the first-ever Tour de Brewer event.

As for challenges, they have a few, but nothing they can’t use to their advantage.

“We love our space, but would love to change our layout,” said Drew. “Most people don’t know this, but we have to run a fork lift through the tap room most days to become customer facing, but hey that might be cool for some folks to see.”

These Chocolate-Filled Chocolate Stout Cupcakes are fantastic treats to share with the ones you love. (It will be Valentine’s Day day tomorrow!) The recipe comes from Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook, which holds a bounty of delicious seasonal recipes designed for a group.

Splurge with these cupcakes—there’s a little Lily Flagg in the batch (or choose your own stout beer). The half-cup you pour into the batter enhances the chocolate taste while giving the cake a better crumb. What you don’t use in the recipe, you’ll want to drink with dessert.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the stout and butter to a simmer. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl to blend.

With an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another bowl, to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined.

Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake them until the tester inserted into the center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17-20 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

Make the filling:
Place finely chopped chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If the chocolate is not sufficiently melted, place over a double-boiler to gently melt.)Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes:
Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped. Meanwhile, cut plugs out of the center of the cupcake tops (a 1-inch cookie cutter works) Go down about half way into the cupcake. (I used a grapefruit spoon to carefully remove each center.)

Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes to the top.

Make the frosting:
Cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Stir instant coffee, vanilla, and liqueur together. Beat into butter mixture. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, ¼ cup at a time. Frosting will be smooth and creamy.

Love is in the air at Tennessee Brew Works! Visit the Tennessee Brew Works taproom Saturday February 10th, through Wednesday February 14th, for a Valentine’s celebration; featuring amazing beer and chocolate pairings with Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co.!

In addition to the pairing menu, Chef Jay will be preparing unique meals also using our craft beers and chocolates! Top it all off with live music and entertainment throughout the week!

The entertainment schedule includes:

Saturday: Songwriter Acoustic Sets 4-9PM

Sunday: Jazz Trio 2-6PM

Monday: Open Mic Performances 7-9PM

Tuesday: Trivia Love 7-9PM

Wednesday: Bluegrass Jam Sessions 6-9PM

NO COVER CHARGE.

ABOUT THE BREWERY: Tennessee Brew Works was born from a love for craft beer. A start-up which began over a home-brew session, they ultimately celebrated their first professional brew in August 2013. Tennessee Brew Works is 100% owned and operated by folks in Tennessee. Their motto: “We work hard to create high quality craft beer that makes Tennessee proud. Our culture places importance on family, friends, and community, and we hope you’ll be a part of it.”

First canned in 2005, this behemoth of a beer pays liquid tribute to Gordon Knight, a Colorado craft beer pioneer and decorated Vietnam vet who died in 2002 fighting a massive wildfire outside of the brewery’s hometown of Lyons, CO. Great American Beer Festival medal-winning G’Knight Imperial Red IPA (8.7% ABV, 60 IBUs) is a hefty, dry hopped imperial red IPA with a nose full of aroma, a sticky mouthfeel, a malty middle, and mighty hop flavors. It sports a surprisingly smooth finish for a beer of its size.

“Gordon inspired everyone with his passion for life and crafting challenging beer flavors that really pushed the limits of hops in those early days. I still remember the day I met him, riding my bike between jobs in Boulder I rolled past a storage unit Gordon was brewing beer in. It was the first time I realized people do this for a living and I knew this was what I wanted to do,” said Dale Katechis, Soul Founder of Oskar Blues Brewery.

In the early 1990’s, Knight created breweries that would help define and influence today’s robust Colorado craft beer scene, including High Country (which later became Estes Park), Twisted Pine, and Wolf Tongue. Knight won Great American Beer Festival gold medals at three breweries he started, including a gold for High Country Brewery’s Renegade Red IPA. Knight would’ve turned 68 on February 20th of this month.

“We want to get G’Knight & Gordon’s legacy into more craft beer drinkers’ hands while we hoist one back and celebrate a true craft beer pioneer,” Katechis said. As the can says, “If you knew the man behind this tribute, this dry-hopped ale needs no explanation. If you didn’t, we’re sorry.” Read more about the life and craft beer legacy of Gordon Knight here: www.N3978Y.com

Founded 20 years ago in Lyons, Colorado, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse with their hand-canned, flagship brew Dale’s Pale Ale. Today, Oskar Blues is one of the fastest growing breweries in the country and operates breweries in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas. Oskar Blues produced more than 200,000 barrels in 2016 and Dale’s Pale Ale earned the nation’s top-selling craft can six-pack at U.S. supermarkets. The original craft beer canners continue to push innovation with creations like The CROWLER, Hotbox Coffee Roasters, B. Stiff & Sons Old Fashioned Sodas, The Oak Room, Oskar Blues Fooderies, REEB Cycles and the cycling-inspired accommodations and event space at REEB Ranch in North Carolina. Oskar Blues is available in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., parts of Canada, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea.

When you’re the very first brewery in Asheville, NC — Beer City, USA — and your iconic logo has been around for 24 years and has successfully and exponentially grown your brewery’s business, why would you change? And how brave do you have to be in order to execute such a change?

“We’ve been refreshing our brand through our beer for over two years,” said Highland Brewing President Leah Wong Ashburn, referring to the company’s many new beers and the introduction of cans in the market. “Because we lead with beer. But in doing that, we created a divide between our beer and our brand. It’s time to close the divide.”

“So, we are focused on four concepts inherent in Highland: authenticity, pride in our Asheville home, consistently excellent beer, and leadership,” she continued. “We are Asheville’s Pioneers in Craft Beer.”

To bring the beer and brand together, Highland worked with Helms Workshop of Austin, TX, for six months of extensive research and development. The firm’s depth of experience in craft beer and working with heritage brands, along with a personal tie to the Asheville area, made the choice clear. The brewery will roll out an entirely new look in labeling, packaging, point of sale, marketing and even in the brewery’s tasting room. Highland Brewing Company will now sport imagery of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a bold and iconic pioneer’s compass and the clear messaging that Highland is Asheville’s first brewery.

The new look arrives in February 2018 and was forged under the leadership of an internal branding team, Marketing Manager Molly McQuillan, and Ashburn, the second-generation family owner who became Highland’s President in 2015. She assumed the role from her father, founder Oscar Wong, and she’s confidently leading the business into its next iteration, its next profile of consumer, and its next inventive level of making beer, including sours and a barrel-aged beer program.

“We are authentic when our actions align with our words,” she said. “And when our brand aligns with our beers. We are so much more than Dad envisioned in 1994 and with this work we state who we are today. This refreshed brand shares a clear message – it honors the path we created and says we’re still innovating and leading.”

Highland Brewing was founded in 1994 as the city’s first brewery in a downtown basement in Asheville, North Carolina, by retired engineer and entrepreneur Oscar Wong. Now distributed in 7 states and with an annual production exceeding 46,000 barrels, Highland is one of the largest breweries in the Southeast and has the third largest solar panel installation in an American brewing facility.* Today, the company is led by Wong’s daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn, and has more than 50 full-time employees